The Tiger Came Back
by AzaleaLura
Summary: Both Kagami and Aomine are stubborn, prideful males. One day, Kagami's tolerance for Aomine finally snaps, and the two leave on a bad note. Both are missing each other dearly, but they have no idea why. Who knew they bore strong feelings for each other? They didn't, that's for sure.


**Fandom**: Kuroko no Basket  
**Rating**: T  
**Pairing**: Aomine Daiki x Kagami Taiga [AoKaga]; miniscule Kise Ryouta x Kuroko Tetsuya [KiKuro]  
**Warning**: Boy/Boy. Slight vulgar language. Possible OOC. Grammatical and spelling mistakes. Un-beta'd. **Cliché**. Fluff. Rushed ending?!  
**Word Count**: 3614 words  
**A/N**: Oh gosh, I am not used to writing AoKaga at all! I hope I did them justice. The plot is rather dry; I know it's nothing compared to my usual works OTL. I promise to do better next time (if I'm not kicked out of the AoKaga fandom for this piece LOL). I plan to write something a little more dramatic next time (with a jobs!au setting), but we'll see! I have a lot of stories I'm working on at the moment, so I need to finish those first haha. Well, this is for AoKaga day, so I'm glad I was able to finish it in one whole day! Banri had informed me yesterday about today and I was like, "Oh gosh, I should contribute! ;u;" OTL. Also, sorry to add in the little KiKuro moments OTL;;;;;  
**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kuroko no Basket. Clearly belongs to Fujimaki Tadatoshi.  
**Dedication**: To all AoKaga fans! Please enjoy. Remember to review; it motivates me to try harder and work on more stories, knowing that people enjoy reading them as much as I love writing them! :)

* * *

**Summary**: Both Kagami and Aomine are stubborn, prideful males. One day, Kagami's tolerance for Aomine finally snaps, and the two leave on a bad note. Both are missing each other dearly, but they have no idea why. Who knew they bore strong feelings for each other? They didn't, that's for sure.

* * *

"_Oi Bakagami, you're slacking."_

_Kagami snarled, gripping the basketball in his hands tightly as he approached Aomine cautiously. He had to control his temper; couldn't let the Touou ace find amusement in his anger; couldn't let Aomine win when it came to their disagreements._

_For the umpteenth time that week, both Aomine and Kagami were lashing out at each other's faces and like usual, they couldn't remember the reason why. Somehow, their arguments started when one beat the other in their one-on-ones, which was typically Aomine, and so he boasted about his win for the day, angering Kagami._

_The two-toned-haired boy harshly threw the ball to Aomine's face, in which the male caught with no surprise at all and the smirk on the blue-haired only widened. "Shut up, Ahomine! Might I remind you, I beat you in the Winter Cup."_

_If Kagami expected Aomine's anger to rise, he was wrong; it was quite the opposite really. Perhaps the smirk on Aomine fueled Kagami's annoyance more since his cocky smirk and glimmer in his dark blue orbs sent fire boiling in the Seirin ace's system. He was growing rather tired of the same old comment from Aomine every time he lost their match; it wasn't his fault that he couldn't beat someone that talented and skilled alone. Even if he won, he didn't need to rub it in his face every time like a sore winner._

"_Maybe people would like you more if you weren't a sore winner."_

_The words had been soft, a mere whisper really, but Aomine had heard it, and for some reason, the words left a rather sting in his chest. Momoi had warned him about his boasting, and Imayoshi commented on it before jokingly, but he hadn't taken any offense back then. However, when the words left Kagami's mouth, it stung—it honestly stung, and he lost his mood to tease the Seirin ace any further, maybe even losing his mood to play another round._

_Silently, he turned around; placing the ball under his arm as he casually picked up his belongings and left the area, not before muttering something along the words of "stupid Bakagami"._

_Kagami watched the blue-haired boy withdraw from their match and disappear from his vision, but he didn't care. He scuffed his shoes against the basketball court, and he, too, soon gathered up his belongings and retreated home._

_Somehow, he knew he had overstepped the boundaries, but he hadn't found it in his heart to apologize. He had seen Aomine's shoulders tense the second those words escaped his lips, had seen the shocked expression on the usual prideful, mocking male, and the weight in his chest grew heavier. Perhaps those words had hurt his pride, but it was mostly the truth—he didn't regret anything at all._

_So why did his heart feel so heavy?_

**- The Tiger Came Back -  
**_AzaleaLura_

Aomine groaned, covering his face with his hands as he thought back to earlier in the week, when he and Kagami had their little "fight". Across from him was his old junior high classmate, Kise Ryouta, who arched his eyebrow in curiosity as he saw the distress in his teammate. Even after knowing him for a few years, he never saw this side of Aomine.

Perhaps there was something about Kagami that brought this different side of the Touou power forward.

The smirk on Kise's face was clearly visible, and it irritated Aomine even further. The two were by a ramen place near Kise's workplace—Aomine had dragged the blonde away from his shoot to "talk", which startled the blonde but he obediently followed. His agent wasn't too pleased when she found out he had left during a photo session, but Kise said it was an emergency.

Which, in Aomine's case, was.

The power forward hadn't said anything specific to the small forward, only claiming he was angry at a certain idiot, and Kise automatically assumed it was Kagami, considering the only one Aomine called an idiot were Kagami or him.

When Kise heard an exasperated sigh leave the blue-haired boy's lips, he decided it was time to interrogate the male; clearly Aomine wasn't going to tell him anything unless he pestered him for details.

"What did Kagamicchi do this time?"

Aomine hadn't even hesitated, wasn't shocked at all, when Kise mentioned Kagami's name. Instead, the blonde had noticed the other's shoulders tense, his hand froze, the chopsticks dangling from his fingers, before he sighed, relaxing and placing the chopsticks on the top of the bowl. It took a moment, with the power forward running his fingers through his hair, as if he was contemplating where to start first, and Kise almost wanted to pester him to hurry up and just spill it already, but then he spoke,

"We had an argument on Sunday, I suppose, and haven't talked since."

Kise wanted to chuckle at how brief and obvious Aomine's statement was, but knew this was not the time to laugh. The fact that Aomine had travelled to Kanagawa on a weekday instead of playing a round of basketball or sleeping was evidence that the male needed help, or needed some form of comfort—clearly he wasn't himself and he didn't enjoy this feeling at all.

Instead he remained quiet, simply nodding his head slowly, motioning the male to continue and give more details.

Aomine ran his fingers through his hair once again - an action Kise thought was rather abnormal for the male, and this further indicated that he was frustrated - before continuing, "It was fine at first; just playing a round of one-on-one. After I won, I joking said he was slacking, and I guess he found that offensive."

This time, Kise chuckled, "Well, imagine Kagamicchi saying that to you, Aominecchi."

Dark blue eyes narrowed, and the blonde only shrugged, taking a sip of his tea. "That would never happen, Kise."

"You never know. Besides, I said _imagine_—it's a scenario, Aominecchi."

The only response from the male was a scoff, before he curtly asked if he could continue; Kise motioned him to go ahead. Another sigh left his lips, in which Kise noted again that this was unusual. "I wouldn't be too pleased either, but I meant it as a joke, come on. But then Bakagami"—Kise grinned widely when he heard the slip of the nickname escape Aomine's lips— said something like _'maybe you would be liked more if you weren't a sore winner'_ and I stormed off after that. We haven't spoken since."

Kise pondered on Aomine's words for a few moments, sipping his tea as he thought of various reasons for Kagami's temper, for Aomine's sudden change of behaviour, for the tension in their friendship. He had his assumptions, but decided it would be better for Aomine to figure it out himself. If he was too prideful - or perhaps oblivious, but Kise was pretty sure it was just pride and he was simply repressing the thought - to fully admit his strange emotions, he wasn't ready to improve their friendship. So he offered Aomine the best words of wisdom he could muster in the most blunt way.

"Aominecchi, you need to lose that arrogance of yours."

The male was taken aback by Kise's words. He had been expecting something rather useful, but this wasn't even related to their topic! Had Kise been ignoring everything he was saying for the past five minutes?!

Before he could snap at Kise for his worthless input, the blonde shook his head and smirked, "When my boyfriend and I first got together, he was distant and emotionless with me. Then again, this was normal for him, but I really thought he was dating me because of pity. I confronted him about it, and we argued, but eventually he confessed that he was just embarrassed. Well, he doesn't show his emotions well, that's for sure, but his smile-" Kise gushed, as if recalling the memory brought back wonderful emotions and Aomine almost swore he saw sparkles surrounding the blonde. Eventually, Kise was brought back to reality and he smiled pleasantly, grasping his cup lightly, "We're perfectly content with our relationship now. But I think it took him a lot of courage to confront me about that, and I know he had to swallow his pride to tell me this secret, but I was really glad he did. It confirmed he fully trusts me."

Aomine wanted to comment on how this was related to his problem but then he realized Kise's words and suddenly, he was shocked. His eyes widened as he shouted, "When the hell did you get a boyfriend?! Who the fuck is-"

Kise's smirk only widened, as he stood up from his seat, and winked, "This isn't about me. As much as I would love to tell you who I'm dating, you need to figure out your problem first." He began to head towards the exit, before pausing and turned to look back at a speechless Aomine; he shrugged, "Besides, it's quite obvious who it is, Aominecchi. Oh, and I meant what I said earlier; lose that pride of yours, alright?"

The blonde left then, and Aomine was confused on what to focus on. The fact that his ex-teammate had a boyfriend and didn't tell him till now or his problem with Kagami.

_"You need to lose that arrogance of yours."_

Just what did Kise mean by that?

* * *

In Tokyo, a similar situation was occurring, but instead of Aomine and Kise, it was Kagami, with the rather expressionless Kuroko.

The two were at Maji Burger, their usual spot to meet whenever practice was over or Kagami needed Kuroko's advice on something. Though the light blue-haired boy was quiet and apathetic most of the time, Kagami felt he trusted him with almost anything, and often times than not, Kuroko offered helpful advice, despite his appearance.

He had just finished explaining the scenario to Kuroko, opening his sixth burger in the last fifteen minutes before placing it back on the tray. For some reason, after explaining the situation and watching the shorter boy's expression remain the same, he lost his appetite. He pushed his tray towards Kuroko, leaving the other ten burgers - give or take - for him to have. Of course the boy refused, gesturing to his beloved vanilla milkshake instead.

Kuroko had noticed Kagami's behaviour change the last few days. During the course of the week, Kagami had stumbled over several stairs, clearly in deep thought, and slacking off in practice; he hadn't been eating much for lunch either, only ordering half of what he usually did. It started Monday morning, when he didn't show up for practice at all, and he was brutally penalized by Riko the following day. Everyone on the team had noticed Kagami's attitude, and they all interrogated Kuroko, but he had no idea why.

That was, until today, when Kagami explained it was Aomine's fault; that when he played basketball, he couldn't help but feel the heavy weight in his chest and think back to their little dispute earlier in the week.

Immediately, he knew the two were being idiotic once again, but he couldn't help but see just how guilty Kagami felt. Although his words had been rather harsh to Aomine, Kuroko had warned the boy about his impudence and he had toned it down, aside from Kagami. He thought in silence for a while longer, knowing Aomine teased Kagami a little more than usual. Kagami, too, he expressed his emotions more when he was with dark blue-haired boy.

Perhaps those two were just-

"-ko? Kuroko, you still with me?"

His thoughts were interrupted when Kagami looked at him with a confused face, his eyebrows furrowed together and his eyes had a hint of concern in them. He shook his head, clearing the thoughts from his mind. Before he responded to the power forward, he took a long sip from his milkshake, "Kagami-kun, I was thinking."

"Oh... S- Sorry."

The boy shrugged; honestly, this wasn't his problem, but he cared for his two friends and didn't want their friendship to deteriorate because of their attitude. "So you and Aomine-kun haven't talked since Sunday?"

Kagami shook his head, picking at his fries while finding the right words to say to Kuroko. "Was I too harsh?"

Without even specifying, Kuroko knew the two-toned-haired boy was referring to his last words to Aomine, and once again, he shrugged, "Maybe." In the corner of his eye, he saw Kagami flinch, but he continued, "However, it was the truth, wasn't it? You were just expressing your thoughts."

"That's true..."

"It may not have been wise to add the _'people would like him more if´_ part, but you were angry back then, right?"

Kagami faltered, lowering his head as if apologizing, "Yeah... To be honest, I was just annoyed. Ahomine always teases me like that, guess it motivates me to try harder, but that day, I just... snapped."

The shorter boy blinked at the sudden sound of Aomine's nickname. When the two meet up with Aomine, he often heard the two address each other as "Bakagami" and "Ahomine" but when they were by themselves, they addressed each other normally. The fact that Kagami hadn't noticed the slip meant he was too deep in thought to notice, and Kuroko couldn't help but think that the bond between the two was beginning to take a turn for something else; something more.

"Maybe I should apologize..." The words slipped out of the power forward's mouth and he widened his eyes at the sound of it. He shot up from his seat right away and picked up a burger before grinning at Kuroko, "You can have the rest, Kuroko, as thanks."

Soon enough, the power forward disappeared from Kuroko's sight, and he casually drank his milkshake, recalling their conversation. His memory soon shifted to Kagami's shoes, the shoes that Aomine had given him during the Winter Cup when his broke, and a faint smile appeared on his lips as he reached towards the tray to pick a fry.

He hadn't played any basketball today yet he was wearing basketball shoes—the shoes that once belonged to Aomine.

_Kagami-kun really is an idiot._

* * *

Kagami's feet moved on their own, as he headed towards the direction of a place he once frequented often. Even from a distance, he could hear the sound of a basketball bouncing viciously and the rough friction of someone dashing from one court to the other. Without further thought, he smiled, knowing just who was there playing this late at night.

When he rounded the corner, he saw Aomine—or more precisely, his back. The male lifted his shirt a little, to wipe the sweat from his forehead, and he was breathing heavily. From the looks of it, he had been there practicing for a while.

Cautiously, Kagami approached him, but Aomine had heard, and he turned around where his dark blue eyes met up with startled red ones. Almost instantly, he asked, "What are you doing here?"

Suddenly, the Seirin power forward lost all his courage to confront the male, but his feet unconsciously began to move towards where the Touou player stood on the court. He dropped his belongings, the wrapped burger still in his hand, but soon enough, he tossed it towards Aomine who caught it without any hesitation.

Sensing the tension in the atmosphere, both males shifted awkwardly in their spots, and Kagami tilted his head at the burger, "You're probably hungry, right?" He shifted a little more, watching Aomine narrow his eyes before nodding curtly. "Look, can we talk?"

Aomine shrugged, heading towards the bench where his bag was and sat down, the basketball at his feet, as he unravelled the wrapping of the burger. Kagami soon followed suit, taking a seat a few feet away from the teen.

Silence passed, both sitting uncomfortably as Aomine finished the last bit of his burger. The two males inhaled deeply.

"Sorry."

Immediately, they glanced at each other, stunned by each other's apology before looking at the ground; the faintest blush on their cheeks but neither of them noticed. A barely noticeable smile was on their lips as they were far too amused with each other, attempting to understand why the other was apologizing when they were at fault. In no time, a chuckle escaped their mouths.

The tension between them soon disappeared. As the twos' laughter came to a seize, they directed their gaze towards the abandoned court, a longing look in their eyes as they reminisced their happier, silly days of endless one-on-ones together.

When had they started this routine of meeting one another, and then playing these single matches? Some days, Kagami would even stay over at Aomine's, and cook him a nice dinner; the two simply enjoying each other's company while watching a game or even discussing their own team practice routines.

When had they started caring for each other's company? To the point where they yearned for the other's presence? Neither would admit it, but during the week, the two missed each other, and perhaps for this very reason, their behaviour had changed. Both had been in deep thought, too deep to even notice their changes in behaviour, and this had even affected their love for basketball.

They influenced each other too much. Soon enough, they hadn't noticed that their friendship had morphed into something more; something a lot more intimate, and it took this one argument to figure it out.

Kagami turned his attention from the court towards Aomine, his lips parted slightly as he was about to speak, but lips pressed against his and he couldn't help but widen his eyes at the abrupt contact.

The kiss had been short, a small peck really, something Alex often gave him as a morning greeting, but he knew the kiss was far from just a greeting. The blush on Aomine's cheeks were proof of that as he attempted to cover it up; Kagami soon felt the heat rush to his cheeks, and he, too, tried to cover it up with his hands.

He sputtered a soft, "W- What..." before realizing the topic was far too embarrassing to bring up, and he turned his gaze away from Aomine, finding a perfect spot on the grassy field to observe.

There was silence, and he was sure the Touou power forward had noticed his surprise but refused to acknowledge his reasons for the sudden gesture. It was until he heard the male beside him stand up that he turned his gaze back to the blue-haired figure. A soft mumble of gratitude for the burger was said, but Kagami knew that was just an excuse, and for some reason, he grew rather infuriated.

As Aomine made his way towards the court, Kagami shot up and grabbed his wrist, turning the male around and kissed him back. It took the male by surprise, but soon enough, he returned the gesture; the two battling for dominance as their kiss strengthened into something far more passionate.

Once they broke apart, they were breathing heavily; their eyes averted from each other's gaze as the heat quickly rushed up to their cheeks. Kagami was the first to recover as he smirked and said, "Ahomine, next time you want to kiss me, do it properly."

The male twitched, annoyed at the statement, before he smirked slyly, decreasing the distance between the two before he was only centimetres from Kagami's face. He grabbed hold of the male's shirt, before saying, "Heh, you're going to regret that, Bakagami."

And the two pressed in for another hot, affectionate kiss.

* * *

**[EXTRA]**

Off to the distance, Kise and Kuroko watched as the two power forwards leaned in for another kiss and Kise couldn't help but grin widely at the sight. Finally, the two admitted their feelings and strengthened their friendship into something else—a relationship.

He gushed, squealing at the sight of love being born right in front of his eyes. Oh, the romantic inside him was practically crying with glee.

Kuroko blinked before turning to the overly excited blonde, "Kise-kun, now that they solved their problems, can we leave?"

The blonde stopped and his amber eyes glistened with delight before he wrapped his arms around Kuroko, hugging the smaller boy from behind, "Aww, Kurokocchi, you want to go on a date with me that much!? I'm so happy!"

Because of his loud, animated voice, the two power forwards noticed their appearance, and almost immediately, appeared in front of their eyes. Aomine was speechless, his mouth agape as his dark blue orbs widened in shock.

"KISE, YOU'RE DATING TETSU?!"

Shortly after, Kagami appeared, the bright scarlet blush on his cheeks as his eyes shifted from Kuroko to Kise to Kuroko again, and like Aomine, he was beyond astounded.

The blonde smiled cheekily, shrugging before muttering a quick "oops" and grabbed Kuroko's wrist, dashing away from the scene, abandoning both males and leaving their questions unanswered. Before either could respond to what just happened, they both received a text from a certain blonde.

_[10/05/2013 19:58]  
To: Aominecchi, Kagamicchi_

_We'll explain next time! For now, enjoy each other's company. You two were getting quite intimate back there _（○゜ε＾○）

Suddenly, the heat returned to their cheeks as both refused to acknowledge just how passionate they were to each other moments before. In fact, they loudly denied it, hoping Kise heard their shouts, but all they could imagine was the cocky smirk on his lips and somehow they grew even more embarrassed.

Well, they'll acknowledge their relationship soon enough.

* * *

_Happy AoKaga Day!_


End file.
